The impact of employees’ perceived CSR on customer orientation: an integrated perspective of generalized exchange and social identity theory

Purpose Prior marketing and hospitality studies have largely ignored the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in shaping frontline employees’ customer orientation. This study aims to investigate the impacts of employee perceived CSRs on customer orientation in hotel industry. Design/methodology/approach Through an onsite data collection from 642 frontline employees of 14 hotels in China, the moderated mediation model that links frontline employees’ perceptions of internal and external CSR to person-organization fit, work engagement and customer orientation were validated with the bootstrapping procedures. Findings The results reveal that a higher degree of perceived internal and external CSR leads to greater customer orientation through work engagement, and these indirect effects will be stronger with comparatively higher person-organization fit levels. Practical implications By clarifying the connection between perceived CSR initiatives and customer-oriented behaviors, this study offers inspiration for hospitality managers to devise, allocate and leverage CSR investments, strategies and practices. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to verify a moderated mediation model that investigates the impacts of perceived CSRs (i.e. internal vs external) on customer orientation, which not only uncovers some neglected antecedents of customer orientation but also provides a more nuanced insight into perceived CSR-customer orientation linkages.